Description
Cities are increasingly transforming public spaces to promote sustainability, which often involves redesigning streets and reallocating space for different modes of transportation. However, achieving long-term systemic changes can be challenging due to issues such as unequal space distribution, unclear long-term impacts, and path dependency. Additionally, street transformations can encounter strong resistance despite being well-received by some stakeholders.As a means to gain insights into street redesign processes, this research identified the key stakeholders involved in such processes. A thorough stakeholder analysis was conducted, investigating the interests, influence, and relationships of relevant stakeholders and assessing to what extent a consensus can be achieved. For this, a case study approach was adopted, focusing on four ongoing interventions in Brussels, Istanbul, Stockholm, and Vienna. The methodologies applied were media content analysis (n=90) and semi-structured interviews (n=22).
The findings show that street transformation involves diverse stakeholders which can be categorised into five main groups: public authorities, inhabitants, local businesses, civic organisations and public institutions. In this regard, public authorities play a crucial role, which varies depending on administrative boundaries and political objectives. Communication among stakeholders poses a central challenge and directly impacts the evolution of the interventions. Regarding interests, public authorities prioritize safety and traffic congestion, local businesses focus on operations, civic organizations often advocate for sustainability, and residents express diverse views. Achieving consensus is considered challenging by most stakeholders due to conflicting interests, but compromise plays a central role. The latter can be enabled through clear communication, diverse engagement channels, and flexibility regarding the planning of the transformation processes.
| Periode | 29 aug 2024 |
|---|---|
| Evenementstitel | RGS-IBG Annual international conference 2024 |
| Evenementstype | Conference |
| Locatie | London, United Kingdom |
| Mate van erkenning | International |